


Different

by Esselle



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Back to School, Canon Universe, Fluff, Haircuts, M/M, Tobio Thinks Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 00:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11726097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esselle/pseuds/Esselle
Summary: 'They've been texting back and forth during the break, kind of a lot—way more texting than Kageyama has ever partaken in before this point in his life. But on the last day of school, before summer started, and Shouyou left on vacation, they'dki—Kageyama screws up his whole face and wriggles around in bed for lack of a better way to express his emotions—they'dkissed.'--Summer break is over.





	Different

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the wonderful and kind @inbetweenwars on Tumblr.

It's the last night of summer vacation during Kageyama's third year at Karasuno High School, and everything is terribly wrong.

Well, alright, not _that_ wrong. He hasn't been informed at the last minute that he's been kicked out because of his grades, or that the volleyball club is disbanding, or that Oikawa has become their new English teacher, or anything. But there's been this pit of unease growing and festering in his stomach for the past _entire month_ and tomorrow, he'll finally be able to confront the source of it once and for all, and it's going to be awful.

The cold hard facts are that tomorrow, along with returning to school, they will return to volleyball practice. They're the much lauded Karasuno third years, they've brought the team to Nationals twice already, he's their captain (Tadashi is the vice-captain, now, and thank god—Kageyama would die if he had to give all those inspirational speeches to all the first years, but Tadashi usually handles it for him). There is so much riding on their shoulders.

And Kageyama—he's _out of practice._

It's not for lack of trying. He's kept up the same training regimen he always has throughout the summer, morning runs, weights, drills, spiking practice. All his solo skills are in top shape, as usual.

But Kageyama isn't just a solo player anymore, not by a long shot. The last two years have taken him and reshaped him, and turned him into something so much better. He's a team player now. He's a partner. In some ways… one half of a whole.

He grits his teeth, as he tosses a volleyball into the air in the dark of his room, lying flat on his back in bed.

The _other_ half of said whole has been on vacation for an _entire month_ now, almost the entire summer break, so while Kageyama and the rest of Karasuno have been training hard, Hinata has been off in America with his family, probably stuffing himself full of food and becoming lethargic and slow.

Deep down, Kageyama knows this is probably not true—because nothing could ever make Hinata Shouyou, of all people, lethargic and slow. Moreover, none of them can begrudge him this, because Hinata almost never gets time to see his dad (who works abroad in Hawaii, where they're currently vacationing) or have their whole family together, so—Kageyama wants to be happy for him.

 _But what's going to happen?_ They haven't practiced the quick in a month, and Hinata hasn't been there to work on his reflex-timing receives, or blocking, or any of it. And it's their last year, together, and—

Kageyama's phone buzzes on the bed next to him. He nearly drops the volleyball on his face in his hurry to grab it, because there's no one else who'd be texting him at this hour.

 **SHOUYOU**  
_cant wait 2 see u tmrw <3 _

Kageyama crushes his face into his pillow, as a series of complex emotions he still doesn't understand or fully welcome overtake him.

They've been texting back and forth during the break, kind of a lot—way more texting than Kageyama has ever partaken in before this point in his life. But on the last day of school, before summer started, and Hinata left on vacation, they'd _ki_ —Kageyama screws up his whole face and wriggles around in bed for lack of a better way to express his emotions—they'd _kissed._

Alright, well, more like he had accidentally smacked his mouth into Hinata's, and then Hinata had jumped on him without warning, and Kageyama had already been off balance. The whole thing had resulted in a fairly painful impact with the ground shortly thereafter.

Hinata had left with his family that night, so Kageyama was left with bruised knees and a baffled heart, though maybe not as baffled as it might have been a few years ago. He likes Hinata. And Hinata seems to like him back. As evidenced by his now frequent and abundant use of _heart emojis._

 **KAGEYAMA** **  
** _dumbass_

 **SHOUYOU** **  
**_idiot!!!!!!!!_ __  
_I waited all summer 2 SEE U again_  
_i'm gonna beat you at sprints at practice_

 **KAGEYAMA** **  
**_Bull fucking shit._ __  
_I bet you're totally out of shape._ __  
_I'll kick your ass, stupid Hinata._  
_Going to sleep, goodnight._

He almost adds, _sleep well,_ but then doesn't. It's too much. Hinata _waited_ all summer to see him? Kageyama doesn't know what to make of this, so he turns his phone off and aggressively tries to fall asleep.

In the morning, when he turns his phone on, he has one more missed text:

 **SHOUYOU** **  
** _did u miss me?_

Kageyama chokes on nothing and goes to brush his teeth.

He's just about ready to head out the door when there's a knock—familiar, more of a frenzied tapping, no real rhythm to it. He whips his head around to stare at the door. That's…

The knock comes again.

"Co—one second!" Kageyama manages to say. He's the only one home. He dumps his breakfast dishes in the sink and hurries to open the door.

There, standing on his doorstep, is Hinata Shouyou.

Kageyama freezes in place, like maybe, if he stands still enough, Hinata won't see him.

"Hi…" Hinata says, eyes darting around a couple different directions, before settling on Kageyama's face. Crap, he saw him. "Hi, Kageyama!"

He looks different.

Kageyama knows that's a stupid thing to think. It's only been a _month,_ since he saw Hinata last. But they've never gone that long without seeing each other, not in all the time they've known one another. There's always been summer training camp and even the times Hinata will bike over the hill to practice together, and then there's school, and spring and winter break are too short to count as real _breaks,_ and last winter Hinata had even surprised him by showing up on his birthday with hot cocoa mix and anime DVDs—

A month ago, they'd kissed, and now Hinata looks _different._

He doesn't look any less in shape than he had when he'd left, Kageyama notes—his shoulders are still surprisingly wide for his small body, his chest is broad, his arms are well-built, and his thighs are—well. They're, um, good. And stuff. They're really good.

But he's… tanned, a little bit, and Kageyama spots freckles, which only ever just barely started to appear before during summers in Tokyo, they were never given enough time to fully show, but now they're _everywhere_ it seems like, on his cheeks and nose and forehead, his forearms. They're so small, but when Hinata grins it's like Kageyama notices each one, individually, in their perfection.

And is he—is he _taller?_ Not by much… but Kageyama distinctly remembers, with a clarity that is so vivid it's startling, exactly how much he had to bend in order to press his mouth to Hinata's, and it seems like— _l_ _ess,_ now, not a lot, but a little bit, and that's shocking, too. He knows Hinata's grown a little bit, they all have. But suddenly, he can see it.

He's always found himself looking at Hinata, ever since he'd first encountered him across the net in middle school. He can't keep his eyes _off_ Hinata. But now that he finally understands why it's always been that way, it feels like Kageyama is really _seeing_ him.

Hinata laughs a little, almost embarrassed, and Kageyama realizes how hard and how unblinkingly he's been staring. Then Hinata runs a hand through his hair, scuffing his palm against the back of his neck, and Kageyama notices it.

His mouth falls open.

"What?" Hinata asks, and yep, he's definitely self-conscious. There's a blush rising to his cheeks.

"Your… your _hair_ ," Kageyama says. "What'd you _do_ to it?"

Hinata squints at him. "I cut it."

"That's not—I mean, I can see that, but—" Kageyama stares some more. Hinata's hair is still more or less the wild mess it's always been, but now the back and sides are buzzed short. It makes Hinata look a little bit older, too. Not a lot, but enough. Enough to remind Kageyama, again, how Hinata has grown so much in other ways. Maybe not vertically; but he's Karasuno's _ace_ , now, their Little Giant; and he fills out the title just as much as the old one did (more, Kageyama thinks, but he's biased).

He's Karasuno's ace, but he's Kageyama's… something else. He's a lot of things, to Kageyama. He's Kageyama's partner, and maybe his future, and he was gone for a month, but now he's back. And he's different, but somehow still exactly the same.

They are standing close, separated by nothing more than the doorstep. Kageyama reaches out and brushes his fingers over Hinata's hair where it's now short, and finds it's still soft, just in a different way. He scratches his fingers against it softly, mesmerized. Hinata sighs, smiling, eyes fluttering closed.

This time, when Kageyama kisses him again, it's much less of an accident. It's slower, and fortunately less painful, and Hinata doesn't jump on him—but he does slide his arms around Kageyama's waist, and Kageyama hugs him back. It's the first time he's ever hugged Hinata, outside of team victory dogpiles.

He runs a hand through Hinata's hair, and softly rubs his fingers over the new parts, and Hinata giggles and asks, "Do you like it?"

"Yeah," Kageyama says.

Hinata squeezes him even harder in response.

"I practiced a lot while I was gone," Hinata says into his chest. "Beach volleyball! I found this team of college kids and I couldn't understand a word they were saying, except for one girl who spoke some Japanese—they let me play with them! _Gwaaah_ , I forgot how hard it is to jump in the sand! Their setter wasn't as good as you, obviously, but…"

It might make them late for their first morning practice, which is the worst possible thing they could ever do, but Kageyama lets Hinata babble on about playing volleyball on his vacation, grunting occasionally, content to just stand there and stroke Hinata's hair a little longer. All the irritation he's had building under the surface, all the anxiety that they somehow wouldn't be able to pick up where they left off, is fading. He wants to stay standing there like that until it's gone.

As Hinata, and his stories, finally start to wind down, Kageyama mumbles into his hair, "I guess I kinda missed you."

"Huh?" Hinata asks.

"Nothing," Kageyama says, "come on, you're going to make us late for practice."

Hinata glances at the time on his phone and yelps. "Kageyama! We gotta go, hurry up!"

"Leave your bike here," Kageyama tells him. "You can come over tonight and get it, anyway."

Hinata beams up at him. "Okay!"

They start off walking, then jogging, then inevitably racing the rest of the way to school, and Hinata narrowly beats Kageyama, to much cheering and then subsequent collapsing on the gym steps. Kageyama doesn't even have it in him to try and kick him.

Mostly, he's just happy—that they're back at practice, that they're both still in top condition, that everything between them is still the same.

Then Hinata sits up, laughing gleefully. He sweeps his hair out of his eyes with a kind of casual ease Kageyama isn't used to seeing from him—wild on top, short on the sides. Kageyama's face goes all hot. When Hinata catches his eye and grins, just for him, he feels like he may combust altogether.

Correction: everything between them is _mostly_ the same. But the different things, Kageyama is pretty sure he likes those, too.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm [@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


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